Personal Finance

Shady For-Profit College Welcomed With $350,000 in Tax Breaks

Anthem Education, Shady For-Profit College, Welcomed With $350,000 in Tax Breaks

On Tuesday, Gov. Rick Scott's offices sent out a news release that declared, "Gov. Scott Announces Anthem Education Expansion in Fort Lauderdale, 70 New Jobs." It explained that the for-profit college will be locating its "North American headquarters" to Fort Lauderdale, spending $300,000 on a bui ... More >>

Medicaid Expansion Bill "NegronCare" Passes in Florida Senate

House Bill 7169, the Florida Senate's alternate legislation to provide 1 million Floridians with needed health coverage, was approved by the Senate on a 38-1 vote. The measure is expected to head back the House, where it was already rejected and probably will be again.

Palm Beach Tea Party Sounds Alarm on Medicaid Expansion; Rep. Mark Pafford Disputes Its Take

Fire Ant tries to be charitable in assessing the Tea Party. Confused, fearful people in a confusing, frightening age, they're mere pawns in the games of the rich and powerful. But when organized stupidity denies medical care to people in need, stupidity must be called to account. Take the Palm Bea ... More >>

Rolling on the River

Florida Medicaid Expansion Pretty Much Killed By Senate Panel

On Monday afternoon, a Senate select committee rejected moving forward with an expansion of the Medicaid program under the federal Affordable Care Act, even after Gov. Rick Scott expressed a desire to see it expanded, and even though state hospitals and business wanted to see it expanded and even th ... More >>

Strides for Education 5k Walk/Run

Rick Scott Will Still Opt Out of Healthcare, Despite What Voters Said

On Tuesday, Floridians went to the polls and voted against the state GOPer Legislature instilled amendment that would have banned government mandated health insurance requirements. Basically, had the amendment passed, it would have exempt Floridians from the Affordable Care Act. But it failed to p ... More >>

Rick Scott's Decision to Opt Out of Medicaid Could Cost Hospitals Billions

Rick Scott's decision to opt out of participating in the expansion of the Medicaid health insurance program in Florida could cost public hospitals billions and billions of dollars. This according to a new study by the National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems (whom we're sure wil ... More >>

Mitt Romney's Voucher Medicare Plan Would Be Costly for Florida, According to Report

According to a report from the Kaiser Family Foundation, a voucher plan for Medicare -- like the one Mittington Romnom RoboRomney and his young ward P90Ryan are proposing -- would cost Florida patients more than $100 million. But since the Mittbot is promising instant jobs to everyone as soon as he ... More >>

Ryan, Obama, Romney, and Biden's Moms: Too Many Matriarchs in the Race (VIDEO)

Preparing for the vice presidential debate Thursday in Kentucky, Paul Ryan was in Fort Lauderdale yesterday with his mom, Betty Douglas. Indeed, the 78-year-old made the campaign's nine millionth campaign fundraising call. Well, I am sick and tired of moms in this election. Just a few months ag ... More >>

Joe Biden Tells Florida Seniors Romney's Plan Will Tax Their Social Security

Joe Biden got medieval on Romney and Ryan's asses over the weekend. Biden rallied supporters at his events in Boca Raton and Tamarac over the weekend, which were filled with Florida seniors. Biden went around telling the many, many seniors who attended his rallies that Romney's economic plan coul ... More >>

Palm Beach Health Department Says Employee Stole Patient Names, Social Security Numbers

Palm Beach County Health Department on Friday warned that an employee accessed patient files and stole dozens of names and social security numbers as part of an identify theft scam. Officers confiscated a list that included 86 names and social security numbers of former pati ... More >>

For-Profit Colleges Cheat Students and Get Away With It

The Boy in Green

Six Reasons Allen West Is Wrong About the Health Care Law Being Useless

Congressman Allen West, along with anybody else up for election in November, is really ticked off about the Supreme Court upholding the terrible progressive Marxist Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.West, however, is the only one calling it the "Patient Protection Unaffordable Tax Act (PPUT ... More >>

Imagining a Florida Without Medicaid

See also: Rick Scott's stranger-than-fiction smackdown of Obamacare and his defense of that decison.In 2009, at least 2.45 million people in Florida were enrolled in Medicaid, according to data from government agencies. Another estimate pegs the number at more than 3 million. That's over a tenth of ... More >>

Allen West Praises G.I. Bill in Same Week He Calls Student Loans Communist

Last week we told you about Allen West's assertion that federal student loans are communist, something found "in a book written by Marx or Engels called The Communist Manifesto." He said in a video posted June 14 that "it's called the state control of education."Well, two days after that video was p ... More >>

Allen West Says Federal Student Loans Are Communist (VIDEO)

Congressman Allen West is all about "equality of opportunity." He blabbered about it, to thunderous applause, back in January. After yelling about beaches and Georgia and how great it is that he has a job, here's what he said about giving everybody a shot:No matter where you are born, no matter wher ... More >>

Feeling Burned by Facebook's IPO? Be Pissed Instead at the Stock Market, a True Sucker's Bet

On May 9, Facebook's upper brass had a meeting with financial analysts to tell them the company's revenue should be on the low end of projections, according to the Associated Press. That was bad news, especially considering Facebook was about to sell stock publicly for the first time. The analysts f ... More >>

Allen West Calls Student Loan Bill Socialist, Votes for It

You'd need only one guess to figure out which congressman criticized President Obama for using college students as "political pawns" hours before going into Congress to use college students as political pawns.Explaining his vote on Friday's extension of student loan interest rate cuts, Congressman A ... More >>

Occupy Fort Lauderdale Gets the Boot Again

Photo by Ian Witlen​Occupy Fort Lauderdale's residency in Wilton Manors was a bit short-lived.After the Downtown Development Authority informed protesters it was going to close Bubier Park in Fort Lauderdale from 2 to 6 a.m. and ban tents and tarps from the park, the group picked up and moved to E ... More >>

Florida Ranks Very High in Economic Study; Unfortunately, It's About People Being Poor

​A study from the Florida Center for Fiscal and Economic Policy says Florida ranks third, fourth, and fifth out of the 50 states in three different economic indicators.Unfortunately, those indicators are the highest rates of residents without health insurance, the largest percentage of children un ... More >>

Strax Rejuvenation Now Offering Surgery to People With Bad Credit

Flickr user: Images_of_MoneyBad credit? No problem.​First came the ads touting plastic surgery financing for anyone with a checking account. Now they're targeting patients with bad credit. If the owners of Strax Rejuvenation and Aesthetics Institute are trying to compete with used-car salesmen, th ... More >>

Reverse-Mortgage Fraud Suspects Worked at Firm in Boca and Fort Lauderdale

U.S. Attorney Wilfredo Ferrer brings the charges.​The three Florida men charged with reverse-mortgage fraud on Wednesday were Palm Beach County residents who worked for 1st Continental Mortgage, with offices in Boca Raton and Fort Lauderdale. A reverse mortgage allows a bank to purchase the homes ... More >>

Palm Beach County Tea Party Director Quits After Chairman Rags on Rep. Paul Ryan

​Standing up for what you believe in apparently isn't in the South Florida Tea Party manifest.Pam Wohlschlegel -- the director of the Palm Beach County chapter of the South Florida Tea Party -- called it quits after Chairman Everett Wilkinson declared House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan's Medicare ... More >>

Allen West Interview: Florida Tea Party Favorite Talks About Islam and Donald Trump (Part 2)

​Read the first installment of the Allen West interview here.New Times: Let's talk about the Ryan budget [introduced by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin)], which you supported in the House. [This proposal was passed by the House and at presstime was awaiting a vote in the Senate, although House leader ... More >>

Universal Health Care: The Greatest Moral Issue of Our Time

The Republican Party tries to pretend it has a monopoly on morality, but it's so drenched in sin right now that it ought to be able to feel the hellfire licking its feet. Fort Lauderdale Tea Party leader Gabriel Carrera plays dress-up as a minuteman.​The rotten Tea Party has in its hysteri ... More >>

Exposed: Judy Stern Played Secret Role In Mayoral Election

For years, campaign operative and erstwhile politician Dan Lewis has claimed that his 2006 run against incumbent Jim Naugle for mayor of Fort Lauderdale was undermined by a conspiracy led by his nemesis, super-lobbyist Judy Stern. For years, Stern has said she had nothing to do with ... More >>

Sunday Politics: Q&A With Tea Partier on Health Care

The Tea Party has demonized health-care reform -- or Obamacare, as it calls it -- to the point that the group seems to believe that it alone is going to destroy America. Tea Party signs​They've disrupted Congressional town hall meetings, screamed about sociali ... More >>

Rick Scott's Plan: Blame the Unemployed, Cut Drug Oversight, and Other Goodies

​You can't say the guy's not trying. Florida's favorite baldheaded former fraudster, Governor-elect Rick Scott, has been tossing off bits of a new economic plan. Not surprisingly, most of his talking points involve limiting government involvement and letting us little guys pull like mad on our boo ... More >>

Tea Party Lawyer Marianne Moran Campaigns for Power to Repeal Federal Laws

Moran at a Tea Party protest against Charlie Crist's U.S. Sugar "bailout."​Marianne Moran is a lawyer in West Palm Beach and a member of Tea Party in Action and Balance Our Budget Now. Through her work on the Florida Senate, she met Randy Barnett, a Georgetown law professor who is credited with de ... More >>

Kristin Haynes, Millionaire Creator of "Dreamsicles" Figurines, Sentenced for Tax Evasion

We must be in the wrong business. Looks like the big money is in knickknacks, trinkets, and doodads. According to court documents in a federal criminal case, Kristin Haynes, creator of the Dreamsicles line of collectible ceramic figurines (like the one pictured here) raked in nearly $3 mil ... More >>

Broward Teachers Ask Court to Stop Health Insurance Rate Hike

No more insurance hikes!​In a last-ditch effort to prevent Broward school employees from paying thousands of dollars more for health insurance for their kids next year, the Broward Teachers Union this morning filed suit in Broward County Circuit Court to temporarily stop the 45 percent insurance r ... More >>

President Obama Fails to Go After Those Responsible for Financial Meltdown

Rape Victim Sees Doctor, Loses Health Insurance

flickr.comRape? Sounds like a pre-existing condition to insurance companies.​Christina Turner, a 45-year-old Fort Lauderdale woman, was downtown, letting men at the bar by her drinks. The next thing she remembers is waking up on a roadside with cuts and bruises that indicated she may have been rap ... More >>

Fugitive From Jersey Lived Under Assumed Identity in Delray Beach

Flickr: spinadelic​For those of you who thought you knew James Present, you didn't. You knew Ronald Hippolyte, the mastermind of an identity theft ring who was to serve a 4-and-a-half-year a prison sentence in New Jersey. He bolted in 2005 and has been living in Delray Beach as James Present since ... More >>

Witness To An Execution

Not sure if that headline refers to Sun-Sentinel courtrs reporter Tonya Alanez getting lined up to view the potential state's offing of John Marek (see this excellent JAABlog post for details) or the slow-motion assassination of the newspaper industry's future. On the latter point, I give ... More >>

E.W. Scripps Makes Company-Wide Cuts

The E.W. Scripps Company, which owns ten TV stations (including WPTV-Channel 5 in West Palm Beach) and 17 newspapers (the Rocky Mountain News, the Commercial Appeal, and the Naples Daily News among them) announced today that the company is suspending  its 401-K match and freezing ... More >>

Miami Herald Publisher: More Layoffs Coming To Newspaper

Miami Herald Publisher David Landsberg informed all Herald employees this morning in an e-mail that newspaper would be laying off more employees in the coming weeks. "Unfortunately, it is already apparent there is no way to avoid the elimination of staff positions. We are exploring several alt ... More >>

1004 Words On Lehman Brothers

Hip-Hop Summit Wrap-Up

Hip-Hop Action Summit on Saturday at Florida Memorial University

SPJer Says Scholarship Program Was Fixed

Letters for February 14, 2002

Racial rants

Disloyalty Is Job One

Bob Horvath was the ultimate company man for GM and sold their cars for 40 years. The thanks he got? The auto giant put him out of business.

Undercurrents

You Can't Hide From David Muskowitz

Using just a home computer, Tamarac's Super Snooper can pull up information that you mistakenly thought was private